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Book Reviewed by:The first novel for adults in almost fifteen years from the internationally bestselling author of In the Time of the Butterflies follows Antonia Vega, a retired English professor struggling to deal with the death of her husband, the appearance of a pregnant undocumented teen on her doorstep, and the disappearance of her sister.
Antonia Vega, the immigrant writer at the center of Afterlife, has had the rug pulled out from under her. She has just retired from the college where she taught English when her beloved husband, Sam, suddenly dies. And then more jolts: her bighearted but unstable sister disappears, and Antonia returns home one evening to find a pregnant, undocumented teenager on her doorstep. Antonia has always sought direction in the literature she loves—lines from her favorite authors play in her head like a soundtrack—but now she finds that the world demands more of her than words.
Afterlife is a compact, nimble, and sharply droll novel. Set in this political moment of tribalism and distrust, it asks: What do we owe those in crisis in our families, including—maybe especially—members of our human family? How do we live in a broken world without losing faith in one another or ourselves? And how do we stay true to those glorious souls we have lost?
Afterlife is a thoughtful, nuanced book whose title conveys the great changes in its characters' identities—some associated with death and mourning and others with longing and an immigrant's sense of being "other." I would very much recommend this book, which uses subtlety and emotional detail to tell a complex, multifaceted and often sad story (Shelley S). This book spoke to me and I loved it. From the loss of a spouse and identity, to the complexities of family dynamics, and the question of how to deal and engage with a world run amok, the author explored my reality and concerns with kindness and humor (Christine P)...continued
Full Review
(733 words)
(Reviewed by First Impressions Reviewers).
In Julia Alvarez's novel Afterlife, Antonia's husband Sam dies suddenly of an aneurysm. An aneurysm is an enlargement or bulge in an artery from a weakening of the arterial wall that can cause internal bleeding if it ruptures. Most aneurysms don't rupture, and most people who have them don't experience any symptoms at all. However, when an aneurysm does burst, the effects tend to be sudden and severe, often causing complications (such as heart attack or stroke) that result in death.
Some people may associate the word "aneurysm" only with cerebral aneurysms, and it's true that many aneurysms occur in the blood vessels of the brain, but they can occur in any area of the body. Many aneurysms form in the aorta, the main artery and largest ...
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